A Husband Had a Completely Unexpected Reaction to His Wife's Sexy Boudoir Photos

San Antonio photographer Victoria Caroline Haltom recently shared a story with her customers and friends "about a time I messed up really badly," as she put it. Haltom told people she hoped the story would help them rethink how much pressure they put on themselves to alter the way they appear in photographs.

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Haltom, who runs Victoria Caroline Photography, said in the early stages of her business, a woman came to her wanting to do a sexy boudoir shoot for her husband. "She was a curvy, beautiful size 18," Haltom said. "I thought she looked like a goddess."

Haltom said the woman wanted her to do heavy Photoshopping on her images. "[She] said 'I want you to Photoshop all of my cellulite, all of my angry red stretch marks, ALL of my fat, and all of my wrinkles." So Haltom obliged, and "made every last stretch mark disappear, smoothed out every dimple of cellulite, took away every wrinkle."

"I turned her into the epitome of what every woman dreams of being," wrote Haltom.

She said after Christmas, she got a surprising email from the woman's husband.

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Hi Victoria,

I am (blank)'s husband, ********. I am writing to you because I recently received an album containing images you took of my wife. I don't want you to think that I am in any way upset with you....but I have some food for thought that I would like to pass on to you. I have been with my wife since we were 18 years old, and we have two beautiful children together. We have had many ups and downs over the years, and I think...well, actually I KNOW that my wife did these pictures for me to "spice things up". She sometimes complains that I must not find her attractive, that she wouldn't blame me if I ever found someone younger. When I opened the album that she gave to me, my heart sank. These pictures...while they are beautiful and you are clearly a very talented photographer....they are not my wife. You made every one of her "flaws" disappear...and while I'm sure this is exactly what she asked you to do, it took away everything that makes up our life. When you took away her stretch marks, you took away the documentation of my children. When you took away her wrinkles, you took away over two decades of our laughter, and our worries. When you took away her cellulite, you took away her love of baking and all the goodies we have eaten over the years. I am not telling you all of this to make you feel horrible, you're just doing your job and I get that. I am actually writing you to thank you. Seeing these images made me realize that I honestly do not tell my wife enough how much I LOVE her and adore her just as she is. She hears it so seldom, that she actually thought these photoshopped images are what I wanted and needed her to look like. I have to do better, and for the rest of my days I am going to celebrate her in all her imperfectness. Thanks for the reminder."

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Haltom said the email made her cry "like a baby" for six months whenever she would read it.

"I encourage you to think twice about how much 'altering' we do," she said. "Our loved ones cherish and adore us just as we are...I encourage you to embrace YOU just as you are...YOU ARE SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL!!!!"

This story is pretty incredible and the husband is sweet, especially in how he vows to "do better" so his wife never thinks he wants a different version of her than what she really is. But it's also important to remember that there's nothing wrong with wanting to look or feel a certain way. If you want to Photoshop yourself to look like Gandalf the Grey because you've always wanted to see what you'd look like as a wizard, no one should stand in your way — lest of all a man telling you not to do it because he prefers looking at you a different way or because your appearance reminds him of all the nice things you've done as a wife and mother.

To Photoshop or not to Photoshop isn't as simple as simple as a yes-or-no question. We shouldn't be telling people that what they look like is OK because it's what we prefer or find attractive (even if our preferences deviate from traditional beauty standards). Just as it's not OK to tell women they have to be tall and skinny and look like Gisele Bündchen 24 hours a day, it's also not OK to tell women they need to just be themselves and flaunt their flaws. Basically, whether a woman wants to flaunt her body or her curves or her cellulite or her stretch marks, or whether she wants to correct certain parts of it, it's none of anyone's business.

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